The Falling of Dusk: The 2023 Lent Book

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The foundational call of Christians to charity is a frequent theme of the Gospels. During Lent, we are asked to focus more intently on "almsgiving," which means donating money or goods to the poor and performing other acts of charity. As one of the three pillars of Lenten practice, almsgiving is "a witness to fraternal charity" and "a work of justice pleasing to God." ( Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2462). Opportunities for Almsgiving during Lent There are no Scriptures just a gentle godly reflection encouraging us to pause and prayerfully respond to the spirituality drawn out of the artwork. There are actually 41 daily Lenten readings here as the author has chosen to conclude on Resurrection Sunday. This is because “the central belief of Christianity is not that Jesus died, but that Jesus died and rose again.” John O’Donoghue observed that “Life is growth in the art of loss.” This theme is pursued in Robert Inchausti’s The Way of Thomas Merton: A prayer journey through Lent. Nineteen short chapters, each followed by some questions for reflection, introduce us to Merton’s work, particularly his emphasis on being liberated from the “false self”. The author knows his subject, but presents Merton accessibly, without letting the material become trite or thin. Dust and Glory encourages us to take a fresh look at the frustrations and failings that every day brings and, rather than pretending we can always avoid them, seek to learn from them and grow closer to God through them. Failosophy” is a name given to some recent interest in thinking failure through. This year, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book by Emma Ineson, Failure: What Jesus said about sin, mistakes and messing stuff up, contributes to the conversation by moving “towards an (imperfect) theology of failure”. Having written a book a few years ago on ambition, Ineson now, in post-Covid days, asks what failure is, as human beings and as a Church. She explores what Jesus said about failure, how he trained his disciples for it, how he spent time with failures, and how all this might translate into our own lives and communities today.

Lent is such an annunciation, bearing the message that anyone who is intimate with God will be known by their humility, not for their humiliation. Lent encourages us to seek practical and prayerful ways to deepen this vital intimacy. Happily, Lent books this year, in their varying ways, hold a compass for us, as we explore the atlas of the heart with the desire to turn from something coldly acidic to a human and humane being, created with dignity and formed in the likeness of Christ. There are several special opportunities for almsgiving through donations to Church ministries for which collections are conducted during the Lenten season including: The question “Whose life am I actually living?” is resonant at a time when so many voices are shouting at us from the wings about what we should be doing on stage. Merton’s relentless commitment to seeing beyond what he is good at, to seeing where the mask has eaten into his face, and the destructive ways in which we are made to fit in with expectations, is an important provocation to us. In the Gospel of Mark’s account of the Passion narrative, Jesus calls out from the cross ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?‘ which is the Aramaic for ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ – the first line of Psalm 22. It’s an anguished expression – traditionally ascribed to King David – of defeat, failure, abandonment and despair. For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy." -St. Therese of Lisieux (CCC 2558)

The Room Where It Happens is an exciting new Lent course for 2022, written by Bishop Rose and based on the award-winning musical Hamilton. It is suitable for people to follow either as a group meeting in person or remotely or as individuals. The five sessions invite us to explore what the Bible and the experience of Christian faith teach us about some key issues that Alexander Hamilton faced – and that we face today. Hamilton’s responses to injustice, adversity and temptation, his search for identity, and his realisation that he (and all of us) can make a difference in the world have much to teach us. Each session contains an opening prayer, an introduction, film excerpts to watch/listen to and discuss, Bible passages to read and explore, ‘share and discuss’ and ‘think and discuss’ sections, reflections, suggested action, and a closing prayer.

The Prison Letters consists of forty daily devotions with each day providing a Scripture reading and concluding with a prayer. At the end of each week, there are Scriptures provided for further reading and some questions to explore. All the readings are taken from Paul’s prison letters, namely, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. These letters were all written by Paul while he was under house arrest in Rome.

Prayer, Fasting, & Almsgiving

Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are obligatory days of fasting and abstinence for Catholics. In addition, Fridays during Lent are obligatory days of abstinence. The five sessions cover the following themes: Identity and Belonging; Ambition and Temptation; Forgiveness and Redemption; Love and Sacrifice; Hope and Courage through Adversity.